… My Column in today’s DNA:

You need to have been stuck under a rock in Antarctica or living in furthest reaches or China to have missed the popular protest in Egypt that led to the fall of a thirty-year-old dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak.

The revolution didn’t happen because one morning the people of Egypt woke up and said “Ah! Nice morning, we have nothing better to do, so let’s get rid of our government”.

Rather, the protests were the culmination of 30 years of repression, economic shackles, rampant corruption and above all – the inability of the bulk of Egyptian population to have or meet aspirations of a better tomorrow. It was a popular revolution and the government fell because it could no longer get people to obey it – and that included the Army that refused to fire on its people.

However, if you were on-line and read or ‘heard’ comments from those in the know — you would think that it was a Facebook or Twitter revolution (17% of Egyptians have internet access and that was severely blocked during the revolution) or a ‘social media-inspired revolution.

The rest of the article is here.

15 thoughts on “Twitter Does not Cause Revoultion, People Do

  1. Just a few questions
    Who are these people in the know ? journalists?
    in any case intelligent people dont believe news these days there are blogs and the huffington post for decent coverage

    Why did the Iranian movement post elections fail when the Egyptian one did?
    They were definitely worse off
    Social media played a very imp role in both protests so did the international media and al jazeera..without it the flames may not have been fanned. but what mattered was the way things were organised, and the mukhbarat outsmarted and because egypt was a leaderless revolution that even took inspiration from the film v for vendetta.

    In case of obama social media was one of the means just as in India not the only possible communication channel as in egypt or iran ..it was the youth, the primaries , the tv debates anti incumbency and palin that helped.

    Parties win because a large chunk of the population votes for a party.

    sorry in india they win because of jod tod and what one calls as caste and religion based math of getting critical mass
    why is laloo and mulayams formula MU or muslim yadhav combine
    or mayas as MD or SD or suvarna dalit or muslim dalit depending on the location
    why does congress/ communist support radical islamists like the owaisis MIM and the madnis in kerala , why do bangladeshis vote in assam?

    in case of advani , it was hatred and muslims that are anti congress voted congress just to defeat him. The party messed up the election strategy telling people what they already knew , and beatifying advani , with a strong leadership slogan(that too after his jinnah episode) .instead of focussing on the ills of the govt and how they would bring in change.

    congress won a huge chunk in andra pradesh by using the 4 rupee rice and free electricity formula of dmk , and split the marathi manus vote in maharashtra so it won

    1. Well as far as your point in INDIA is concerned, my view is social media activim will nt work in INDIA till the time apathy is prevelant in good number of INDIANS, twitter activism can covert only those ppl at the bank who need mild push to be active. Twitter can rarely convert an aphatethic person who despite experiencing 26/11 dont go for voting. Social media activity is a supplement to the change seeked, hence its people who has to do away with apathy 1st, nd then we can expect any change, either by social media or any other way

      1. i don’t disagree on the apathy part…
        in the last GE – mumbaikars that were screaming the most about 26/11 didn’t vote. if they hadn’t voted out of protest i could have respected them ….but, they didnt’ vote because they took a long weekend off …
        one of the things i tell students every year – is register your name. vote for anyone but vote …
        also, very importantly – when i was in school (ahem a long time ago) i used to study with kids from the slums as well as very rich kids – the middle class are building ghettos for themselves and their kids – with no culture, no roots and no outside influence … it is hardly surprising that peopel feel cut off…

        1. can u blame the middle class ? dont they have right to live ? they pay the highest taxes and dont get anything in return

    2. people in the know – i saw articles from across the world on twitter and facebook overthrows govt 🙂 – in fact huffington post had one such article …
      The Iranian protest – post elections, i saw as being elitist … while the Egyptian one i saw as being more mass. … Iran also seems to be doing better than the remaining ME states in terms of social security, education and employment. that is what the kids i train tell me… there is still little ‘western style freedom’ – but the students i train work in the area of human righs, women’s rights, are independent film makers – have anti-govt views and are quite westernised …
      but the key difference seems to be employment …

      1. I was waiting for your response
        i think it was the revolutionary guard and the internal security services ruthlessness and lack of international media presence … and mainly al jazeera is what did the trick more than anything else yes the subsidy given by a panicky ahmedinajad govt which knew how it managed to win elections also helped… and please it was not so elitist , the movement was started by relatively elitist people in egypt, who managed thanks to their education and intelligent planning, to bring out the masses, even the middle class with slogans like They are eating pigeon and chicken and we are eating beans all the time read
        http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/world/middleeast/10youth.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast

    1. there is a lovely line in a song – ‘freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose’ – somehow for the people of egypt that is what happened. they braved the might of the state because they felt they had nothing left to lose !!

  2. While i do agree with ur point in totality, i do have something to add, that is though social media activism can not b iniator and/or soul of the revolution, it has its place as remote catalyst. I do agree tht social media can and will never be able to replace ground activism, and we should not let it happen. Also, ur article does open eyes to many amateur virtually active ID that duty towards nation and society does not get completed by “unliking” a phrase in facebook or tweeting bout it on twitter, The annoynumos shield has to b dropped, althoug many do declare their identity.

    The social media is very budding considering the ground activism dates back since the human race … hence it would be futile to compare both. The revolution on street is the ultimate key for any change, we change parliament by going to polling both, but to create awareness we can use social media. The idea attracted across twitter if and when used at street level for change, it will b useful. Hence twitter revoltion shall not be discarded cuz its an infant stage and has long way to go; and also not to consider revloution can be replaced by twitter,cuz wat ever b stage of internet activism, ultimate change wil always come from street revolurion.

    1. i agree with the anonymous bit – i am ok with holding conversation with some anon handles – but that is after following their conversations for a long time….
      i have deactivated causes on FB – you are right often people mistake liking a cause on FB for involvement … there is no substitute for rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty 🙂

      1. True, bt my larger point that made was … we shuld not discard the possibility of larger contribution by internet activism, 2day its efficacy is not thr … n relevance is minimal due to low internet penetration, but …. things can change n wen it will change, it mite change for gud… n internet activisnm can be imp tool for the revolution on the street

        1. absolutely … media is important … but it is a tool for networking, brining together people from varied geographical areas on a common platform, giving voices ignored by MSM a say – but it is no substitute for direct action !!
          Internet ‘activism’ or ‘activity’ needs to be backed by ground level activity …
          it;s a bit like doing a campaign w/o backing it up with distribution of a product / service/ party ..

        2. Well, i never mentioned that internet activism can be substitute for ground work; i have maintained that it can be a useful tool, even if so it coming time its efficacy can increase but that will make internet an effective tool of revolution but not revolution by itself.
          its on people and their usage that will determine the use and effectiveness of such activity;
          I have my own example, had ideas but no platform, i got a platform got new ideas, but ultimately i had to do portray my work on ground .. i n group of people along with me have started, so very minimal to very huge cause ..bt with confidence and experience i can say this activism did play imp role in gathering people to act on ground, hence as i said earlier in internet can be a catalyst and hence it should be not discarded as useless, but at the same time in equal breath it is also to be understood that internet is not an end by in itself, and internet enthusiasm has to be translated on the ground.

          going by your reply i guess we are on same thoughts, just that I am weighing internet activism’s efficacy a tit bit more 🙂

  3. 🙂
    yes … i see the value of social networking …. but … i believe it is too early for anyone but those with access and understanding …

    what started this post was some of the stuff i was reading in magazines and papers that should know better – “twitter and FB bring revolution to Egypt’ – i laughed and then i got bugged enough to write 🙂

    1. thr i must admit, over emphasis on twitter.fb is a spoil thingie …. to a certain extent ur article is helpful in understanding that, as i put in example tht supporting a cause has to b on ground aswell. btw ur article was indeed a nice read n more interesting was a small exchange of ideas with u

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